Just came back from the midnight screening of the show, and let me preface this by saying I've *NEVER* read any of the books, but have seen all the movies. Also, I don't know the plot well enough to know what constitutes a spoiler, so tread carefully.

This movie was by far and away better than the previous three. Granted, I liked the third one, but Fire took the work established there and surpassed it. Granted, it may be due to the much darker plot, but still, the cinematics were definitely on point. (I especially loved all of the "group posse" shots they had in there, i.e. the teachers, Draco's crew, the girls as Harry walks by, etc.) The special effects/cg looked good and I have to say going in I wasn't expecting much. But then I saw the dragon scene and was like "whoa that's cool." And then the underwater one topped *that* one, and so on. I thought the handling of Voldemor (sp?) was excellent, making him seem totally villainous and intimidating despite having a cape, wand, and flat face. My friends who've read all the books had gripes with some omissions (as expected) but overall we agreed that this movie was the best so far. As a warning though, this movie is WAY darker than the previous offerings and I probably wouldn't take any really young kids to see it. From a totally unhardcore Harry Potter fan perspective I thought the movie was sophisticated both visually and plot-wise, and sucked me in for pretty much the entire time.

(edited by Jericholic53 on 18.11.05 0448)it says so right here in the wcw handbook!

I caught the movie last Sunday at a free screening thanks to some tickets from a guy I know who works for a radio station. I wasn't impressed at all and really thought the previous three were better movies, especially the last one. I didn't think it was terrible, just not that good. At least I didn't have to pay to see it, right?

As someone who sorta looked down on the whole Harry Potter thing as a silly fad, I was interested enough in this movie to see it after having caught enough of the last movie to pique my interest and having read good reviews for this movie. Other than the part where Harry says "I love magic" I enjoyed the whole thing. Ron is easily my favorite character (Bloody hell!). They've got me curious about where things will go with Voldemort now, but not curious enough to start picking up the books. Maybe if the next one is as good.

I was upset at the lack of subtext in this one compared to Cuaron's. I was also disappointed in the lack of subplot resolution. I felt it tended to drag at times, but the characterizations were consistent with the rest of the films and the acting here is better than the rest.

I thought it was well-made and I DID like it, but I'm just wondering what the point was.

The subtext in this one is more actual text, i.e. the kids growing up. It's a GREAT movie for young teens, and it's far suprerior to the previous three, even if its just for the fact that they managed to adapt it without rushing anything and without it feeling attenuated. Azkaban was good but horribly disjointed at points, with jumbled exposition and an awful mishandling of the Shrieking Shack finale. Goblet was excellently paced and edited, and never fumbled the sometimes-unwieldy plot. Plus the three central kids were worlds better than they were eighteen months ago, and it was the first in the series to be genuinely funny. Definitely the best of the four, for me at least.

I agree that the two and one half hours just flew by. I really liked the third movie, but that one did drag sometimes. I also thought the first task was amazing and made up for a maze task that had none of the epic feeling of the book's version of the maze.

I have disliked Rupert's acting as Ron, but he did much better this time around. That one look he gave after Harry Potter's name was pulled out of the Goblet conveyed more than a gob of dialogue could have done. He was good in this, and except for the cheesy "I love magic" line, mostly all the actors stepped up their work.

I did not like the interpretation of Mad-Eye Moody though. Brendan Gleesan is such a good actor, but he hammed it up way too much, turning Moody from sinister to a real ham. The eye looked so phony that it distracted me.

Other than that, I have to say that this is my favorite movie of the four. Newell did the franchise proud.

I liked the movie too. The plot of the books get more intricate as they go along so the movies will have to skip more and make a little less sense as they go along. I would say it is the second best behind Chamber of Secrets. One minor complaint I know that Harry has bad hair but do the Weasleys need to have the hockey/70's hair style too?

I've noticed a kind of formula in all the stories. And its that of a complete and total bait and switch ending at the climax or thereabouts. Its been like that in the last 4 movies. I just find it a little annoying at times.

Anyway, the movie had a $100 million dollar opening weekend and with the Thanksgiving weekend coming up, it could end up making more than the last 2 movies.

Order Of The Phoenix is due out June, 2007. WB is banging out pretty quickly, but If I were them, I'd release the last 3 movies over the Thanksgiving season instead of over the summer.

Originally posted by The Vile1 Order Of The Phoenix is due out June, 2007. WB is banging out pretty quickly, but If I were them, I'd release the last 3 movies over the Thanksgiving season instead of over the summer.

I wonder why they suddenly are getting away from the "Thanksgiving release" in 2007 ? Did they film Goblet and Flight at the same time ?

Originally posted by The Vile1 Order Of The Phoenix is due out June, 2007. WB is banging out pretty quickly, but If I were them, I'd release the last 3 movies over the Thanksgiving season instead of over the summer.

I wonder why they suddenly are getting away from the "Thanksgiving release" in 2007 ? Did they film Goblet and Flight at the same time ?

Another question, is there a rush to get them all banged out fairly quickly due to the stars of the film not getting any younger, and the producers wanting to preserve the ages of the characters to coincide with the books?

By the way, for those of us who care about such things, the movie made over $101 million in its opening weekend. Pretty impressive for the third weekend of November.

We saw this Friday, and all of us thought it was by far the best of the four movies to date. Of all the books, I feel that the fourth is the weakest overall, but I was right to think it would make for a better movie. Given the last three movies I didn't have high expectations for this one, I was expecting 3 stars of five, and was pleased to get 4.

The pacing of the movie was excellent, and I agree that this was the first to be genuinely FUNNY!

I found Mad-Eye Moody's performance to be terrific - keeping with the character in the book who's supposed to be a little "mad". He stole almost every scene he was in.

My biggest beef was with Prof. Dumbledore's reaction to finding Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire - it was far too violent for Dumbledore's character to be shaking Harry.

Agreed with the bad hair on the Weasley twins.

Harry and Ron are both a little too bulked up to be believeable as 14-yr olds. But Rupert's performance was much more in line with what I hoped.

Last, I didn't like Moaning Myrtle's portrayal in Chamber of Secrets, but I enjoyed her here.

I really liked GoF, and probably consider it the best of the films so far. I think they've gotten progressively better actually. Part of that comes with the kids growing as actors and also with them really becoming comfortable in their characters. Having known each other for so long now, as well, they've got a lot of chemistry, and the real friendships underlying the acting make the relationships feel more believable.

The only real mis-steps I felt were during the Death Eater attack at the World Cup, which was fairly disjointed. Harry's separation from the others was badly done, and the Death Eaters looked more silly than deadly. After that, though, I thought the movie was very smooth. I loved the pacing. I was afraid the movie would feel very rushed, trying to compact the huge novel into movie length, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm still not terribly keen on the version of Dumbledore as presented. Without Richard Harris, the character seems to have lost much of his whimsy.

On the whole, though, I'm chomping at the bit for Order of the Phoenix.

Saw it, loved it. Only HP movie I would consider seeing again. Also, it's the first movie I haven't wanted to strangle Harry for being such a terrible actor, which I'm sure had something to do with my enjoyment.

The Death Eaters' costumes sucked. The World Cup attack took me right out of the movie as the obvious Klan comparison popped up in my brain.

Personally, I don't mind the way they played Dumbledore. His gruffness transitions quite well into the next two movies as he moves away from the "loveable male role model" and Harry begins to stand on his own.

Added: How can they make me finally able to stand Harry in the movies, just before the movie where Harry becomes a completely unlikeable git?

(edited by Jaguar on 21.11.05 1853)The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

Having not read the books, I din't really know what to expect, and while I enjoyed the movie, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

For whoever said that the editing was good earlier, I thought that a lot of it was terrible. It got a little better towards the end, but the beginning of the movie, I felt was rushed and not put together well at all.

I've always found it sort of amusing that Potter himself isn't presented very strongly at all. He's never (until the end of the movie) shown as anything particularly special, and he has to cheat to win the tournament. I guess it makes him more readily identifiable, but it doesn't make him a terribly heroicc character.

Other than that, I don't have a whole lot to add. The cast really seems to be jelling well, which I'm happy with. Emma Watson, in particular is growing into the role wuite well.

Tonight I wanna ruin my life,I wanna throw it all away,In a spectacular way

I've never read the books, but I've been keeping up with movies because I've been taking my niece and nephew.

I can't say I honestly thought this one was any better or worse than the previous films. They're all about equal to me. They're like one big salami. No matter where you slice it, it all tastes the same. Which is, not bad movies for kids, but it's hardly a masterpiece.

He was a popular attraction until he choked to death on a corn kernel.

I found it a little weird, as the narrating structure was something to get used to. The effects also looked not 100% great, but this was maybe under the impression of the King Kong trailer before. With Azkaban, it was the first time I really liked a Potter movie, but the Goblet joins the Sorcerers Stone and the Chamber of Secrets of okay movies, good entertainment to have a fun time with, but being forgotten a week later.

On the positive side, I love growing with the characters and see how they develop. Some neat ideas and visuals always surprised the audience. Giving characters like Neville Longbottom more screen time is definitely a plus. The PG-13 theme fits with the overall mood of the series (the older they get, the greater the dangers become). And finally, Emma. Plain awesome!!

Originally posted by too-old-nowMy biggest beef was with Prof. Dumbledore's reaction to finding Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire - it was far too violent for Dumbledore's character to be shaking Harry.

I didn't see it as violent, but more out of fear when Harry didn't originally speak up after being called.

I thought that GOF was good for what it was, obviously I was expecting things to be cut out of the book, so I wasn't too shocked or anything. I loved Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort (and the graveyard scene at the end), but it seemed like a lot of the storylines just ended without any resolution (case in point, Rita Skeeter).

I still think POA was the better one, but GOF is certainly up there as number two.

The Terminator TV series sounds ridiculous and like a waste of time. The MTV Spider-man animated series was crap. Based off of that I'm not expecting too much from the Wolverine series. Unless its done by the folks at Mainframe that did ReBoot.